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"What mountain is that?" I inquired. "Orizaba, master. It lies some sixty miles beyond Vera Cruz, and is of a height scarcely credible to us Englishmen. God be thanked that there is so little wind to-day! With a fair breeze we should have been in port ere nightfall. As it is, we must take our chance to-night, master, or fall into the hands of the Inquisition."

About two miles east of Orizaba, near the hamlet of Jalapilla, is a fine waterfall, known as the Cascade Rincon Grande; this body of water makes a daring plunge of fifty feet over precipitous rocks, amid a glorious growth of tropical vegetation. It has stopped business as a volcano since the last date named, and is the highest mountain in Mexico with the exception of Popocatepetl.

Then thick and fast came rumors pointing to the tottering condition of Maximilian's Empire-first, that Orizaba and Vera Cruz were being fortified; then, that the French were to be withdrawn; and later came the intelligence that the Empress Carlotta had gone home to beg assistance from Napoleon, the author of all of her husband's troubles.

The water was hot, the thermometer standing at 84° when we dipped it over the side. On the morning of the 12th, when we went on deck, there was a grand sight displayed before us. No shore visible, but a heavy bank of clouds on the horizon; and, high above them, towering up into the sky, the snowy summit of Orizaba, a hundred and fifty miles off.

The Knickerbocker, numbered thirteen, and the Orizaba had much to take on during the night. The last to load were eager to complete the task for fear they might be left. By daylight all the ships except the Seguranca had moved down the bay. At 9 o'clock the Seguranca, amid cheers and the blowing of whistles, followed. General Shatter and his staff were the last to leave.

It is a fact that most of these men were formerly banditti, who find that occupation under the government pays them much better, and that it is also safer, since the present energetic officials are in the habit of shooting highwaymen at sight, without regard to judge or jury. Down into the Hot Lands. Wonderful Mountain Scenery. Parasitic Vines. Luscious Fruits. Orchids. Orizaba.

If logic were not sufficient to demonstrate this, it would receive proof from the fact that, in the two months since the allied flags wave over Vera Cruz, and now that we occupy the important points of Cordoba, Orizaba, and Tohuacan, in which no other Mexican authority remains save that of the municipality, neither the conservatives nor the partizans of monarchy have made the slightest demonstration which might lead the allies to "believe" that such partisans exist.

By night Orizaba was still well above the tropics and the single blanket on the hotel cot proved far from sufficient even with its brilliant red hue. It is merely a long jump with a drop of two thousand feet from Orizaba to Cordoba. But the train takes eighteen miles of winding, squirming, and tunneling to get there. On the way is some of the finest scenery in Mexico.

The general has made good his escape from that party of unlucky lancers. He is a fighter!" Then he lowered the glass to turn and shout fiercely to his own men: "Forward! We must reach Orizaba before the news of this skirmish gets there, if we kill all our horses doing it. Push on!"

We are here eighty miles from Vera Cruz, and one hundred and eighty from the city of Mexico. Orizaba, having a little over twenty thousand inhabitants, is in many respects the quaintest, as it is one of the oldest, cities in the country.